How a Bell is Made

About 1250 Walter de Odyngton, a monk of Evesham, wrote down how bells were made. The method remains to this day. A bell is really nothing more than a layer of metal run into a space between two clay moulds; of these the inner is known as the 'core', the outer the 'cope'. The core is simply a mass of clay roughly reproducing the form of the bell. The cope is slightly larger to allow for the intervening thickness of metal to be introduced and is shaped on its inner surface to exactly reproduce the outer form of the bell. Inscriptions and ornament are reproduced with wax and impressed in the wet clay. When the moulds are fired, the wax melts and runs out. When the moulds are dry the molten metal (an alloy of copper and tin, usually three parts of copper to one of tin) is introduced into the space between the two. After cooling, the cope and core are removed, leaving the new bell. The bell is then tuned by gradually removing metal from the inside using a lathe.

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